Girl's POV
There was no freedom waiting at the edge of the forest.
There was nothing at all—no land, no horizon—only open air and the glinting blue vastness of the ocean far, far below.
The moment my foot crossed the final line of trees, the world simply ended. The ground vanished beneath me before I could even gasp, and my body pitched forward into the void. The wind ripped a scream from my throat as the silver forest disappeared above, replaced by a whirling sky and an endless drop.
For a single, suspended heartbeat, I didn't even feel fear—just shock. I stared down at the ocean rushing up to meet me, its surface a mirror of sunlit glass. My reflection grew clearer with every second.
Then pain exploded through my left leg. Something wrenched me backward so violently it felt as if my limb had been torn from its socket. The breath left my body in a silent cry as my descent stopped with a bone-snapping jolt.
A metal cuff.
It bit cruelly into the skin just above my ankle, its weight dragging me backward until I hung suspended. A chain as thick as my wrist stretched upward toward the cliff's lip, glinting faintly in the sun. Blood seeped around the edge of the cuff, trickling in small crimson ribbons down my calf.
I dangled there—half conscious, half screaming inside—as the momentum of my fall turned me into a human pendulum. My body swung once, twice, before crashing hard against the cliffside. Stone tore into my shoulder and hip; my ribs flared with pain, and when my head struck last, the world burst into stars.
By the time I stopped moving, I hung upside down, breath coming in sharp, ragged bursts. The dress I wore threatened to fall over my face, so with what little strength remained, I caught the fabric against my thighs to keep from exposing myself.
Blood rushed to my head until it felt ready to split open. My skull throbbed with every heartbeat, but I couldn't tell which pain was worse—the pounding in my temples or the screaming ache of my legs.
I forced myself to look. My vision swam, but I needed to see.
Bruises bloomed across both legs like spilled ink. My left ankle was swollen grotesquely, the skin torn where the metal cuff had bitten through. Blood gathered in thin trails that dripped down toward the sky below me. My right leg still twitched faintly; the left hung useless and numb.
I bit down on my lip until I tasted iron, desperate not to cry. The tears came anyway, welling hot and helpless as I blinked through them to keep my surroundings in view.
Above me stretched the cliff—smooth, black, and unnatural. The edge of the forest looked as if it had been sliced clean away, the earth cauterized by some unimaginable heat. Even the trees that stood at the border were halved, their trunks seared flat and glassy as if a god had carved the world in two.
I had fallen halfway down before the chain caught me. Halfway between life and death.
Regret hit me harder than the fall. *Why did I run?*
If this was how fate chose to end things, maybe I should have stayed—let them take me, whatever their plans were. Anything would have been better than dangling like this, bleeding and broken, above a hungry ocean.
The chain shuddered, jerking my body slightly upward. A moment later, I began to rise.
It was painfully slow. I could almost hear the creak of each individual link grinding against rock as the men above worked the chain.
"Are they doing this on purpose?" I muttered hoarsely. "Or are they just that weak?"
The thought almost made me laugh. It came out as a bitter wheeze.
My head pulsed with the rhythm of blood and gravity. The longer they took, the harder it was to think. My fingers tingled; my vision blurred. I tried deep breaths—one, two—but upside down, they only made me dizzier.
*Patience,* I told myself. *They're pulling you up. Slowly, but up is better than down.*
The motion stopped.
I froze, blinking sweat and blood from my eyes.
*Why are we stopping?*
We still had a long way to go. I stared at the unmoving chain, willing it to move again. "Come on," I whispered through clenched teeth. "Don't just hang me here."
The world tilted.
For a split second, the pressure vanished from my ankle—and then gravity claimed me again.
The scream that tore from my throat was soundless, strangled by terror. I flailed instinctively, reaching for the cliff wall, but the surface was too smooth, too perfect to grip. The air ripped past me; my heart stuttered—
—and then the chain snapped tight once more.
The second impact wracked my entire body, and for a heartbeat I thought I really had lost my leg this time. Air burst from my lungs in a choked sob. My fingers clawed at nothing, trembling.
Above, faint voices echoed—those same unintelligible syllables I'd heard before. Angry ones, this time.
I glared upward even though I couldn't see them. *They dropped me. They actually dropped me!*
My chest heaved, breath coming in shallow gasps. *If I live through this,* I thought, *if I ever stand again—they're going to regret crossing me.*
At last the chain began to move again, this time faster. The men must have realized how close they'd come to killing their prize. My body swayed as I ascended, scraping lightly against the cliff as blood dripped from my ankle to vanish into the ocean below.
When the edge finally appeared above me, sunlight haloed around three silhouettes—the same men who had chased me through the forest.
When I reached the top, sunlight flared behind the three figures like a halo, burning away the silver mist of the forest below. The man in metal armor hauled the chain hand over hand, his movements methodical, face unreadable behind the grime that caked his jaw. When I was close enough, the one in leather leaned down, caught me by the waist, and hauled me the rest of the way up.
My feet touched solid ground again—if you could call it solid when every nerve screamed in agony. The blood that had pooled in my head rushed back down my body all at once, leaving me dizzy and reeling. The world spun in hazy circles. Any shapes were indistinguishable from one another, voices slurred. The leather-clad man kept an arm wrapped around me, steadying me as though I were some fragile animal he'd half a mind to drop.
The men spoke to one another in that same alien tongue, the words sharp and rhythmic like striking flint:
"Vaelth'raen… draen sa'tiel nara?"
The sounds bent strangely in the air, lilting yet heavy, like the forest itself was listening.
I didn't understand their words, but I understood the tone. Appraisal. Possession.
My vision was blurry, but enough to be able to make out their forms again.
The robed one crouched beside me, his eyes bright with fascination as though studying a rare insect. The armored man watched silently, expression blank. And the one still holding me shifted his grip until he supported me with one arm, freeing the other to grab my chin.
He tilted my face toward the light, examining me like a specimen. His gloved fingers were rough, cold against my skin. He turned my head left, then right, humming under his breath as though assessing value. I jerked away sharply, wrenching my face from his grasp. My glare met where I thought his eyes were.
He laughed—a low, unpleasant sound that coiled through the air like smoke.
The armored man crouched, running a hand through my hair. He lifted a lock to his face and inhaled, the motion almost reverent. My stomach twisted. Beside him, the robed one pinched the hem of my dress between his fingers, rubbing the fabric with a scholar's curiosity. I swung at him on instinct, but the motion was weak, clumsy, and missed completely.
They chuckled. It wasn't cruel laughter—worse. It was the kind that made light of someone beneath them.
The robed one spoke again, gesturing toward his pack. He drew out a small bottle of glass and offered it to me, nodding encouragingly. The liquid inside shimmered faintly, colorless but oddly thick, like mercury in sunlight.
I stared at it, unmoving. Whatever it was, I wasn't drinking it.
He repeated himself, tone softening, as if coaxing a frightened child. I shook my head. My refusal made his smile falter.
The armored man sighed. Without hesitation, he took the bottle, pulled out the cork, and before I could react, he grabbed my face and forced the mouth of the bottle between my lips.
The liquid flooded in before I could turn away. I coughed, choking, some spilling down my chin, but most went down my throat. The taste was faint—almost nonexistent—but a tingling sensation bloomed in its wake, spreading from my tongue to my fingertips. It crawled through my veins, not painful but wrong. My muscles loosened; my heartbeat slowed.
He pulled the bottle away with a satisfied grunt and tossed it aside.
Then, smirking, he said something to his companions—something that made all three of them laugh.
Their laughter was loud, unguarded. It filled the air and echoed across the cliffside.
I stared at them, expression blank, waiting for the dizziness to fade. The tingle in my body intensified, a strange hum settling behind my eyes. The three men continued laughing—deep, genuine belly laughter—until the sound turned unbearable.
*What's so funny?*
Their laughter scraped against my patience like sandpaper. I'd already decided I'd get my revenge on them eventually, but the longer it went on, the more that "eventually" turned into "soon."
My body trembled—not from fear this time, but from something deeper, rawer. A strange amusement bubbled up inside me. If they wanted to laugh, then fine. I'd laugh too.
I smiled—slow, deliberate—and joined them.
"Heh… hehehehe…"
The sound that escaped my throat startled even me. It was low, rasped, edged with something feral. Not the kind of sound a delicate girl should make. But it silenced them instantly.
Their laughter cut off. Heads turned. Eyes widened.
The two standing took instinctive steps back. The man holding me stiffened, arms twitching like he was deciding whether to drop me or run.
*Oh,* I thought distantly, *so that's what you're afraid of.*
The realization was almost funny.
I tilted my head, my smile widening until it hurt. My voice came again, quieter now, smoother—mocking.
"Hehehehe…"
The three exchanged looks—silent, panicked, uncertain. Their body language was universal: *You deal with her.* *No, you deal with her.*
Finally, the man in armor took a tentative step forward. He crouched beside me, hesitating before lifting a finger to press it against my lips. "Sa'ten," he murmured—soft, almost pleading. The sound of it was like a hush from a parent to a misbehaving child.
I stopped laughing, not because he asked me to, but because the stench of his glove hit me. Sweat, iron, and something rotten.
He pulled his hand back quickly, muttering another phrase to the man holding me. The two exchanged a look, and the one behind me reached for something at his belt.
He drew out a metal collar.
It was simple yet unnerving—thin, silvery-black, etched with faintly glowing symbols that pulsed in slow rhythm like breathing embers. He handed it to the armored man with visible reluctance.
The man who took it smiled at me—a smirk more predatory than human. He said something short, words I didn't need to understand to know they meant *you belong to us now.*
The metal touched my skin, cold as death.
"Velk'ra niel."
Click.
The collar sealed around my neck. The runes flared briefly, filling my vision with white light.
A ringing began in my ears—soft at first, then growing until it drowned out everything else. The world blurred further, edges dissolving. My thoughts scattered like leaves in wind. I tried to move, to speak, to resist—but my body didn't respond.
The last thing I saw was the sky above—the same endless blue I'd nearly fallen into—shimmering as the light consumed it.
Then, nothing.
Darkness swallowed me whole.